Holland joined Argentina in the second round of the World Cup after holding on for a 2-1 success over Ivory Coast in Stuttgart.
Superb strikes midway through the first half from Premiership duo Robin van Persie and Ruud van Nistelrooy enabled the Oranje to advance from Group C.
Bakari Kone replied with a screamer, but it was not enough to keep Ivory Coast in the tournament, although the finals debutants can at least return home with heads held high.
Holland stuck with the XI who started the win over Serbia & Montenegro and the settled nature of their team allowed the Oranje to dictate the early stages.
Mark van Bommel's teasing centre just eluded van Nistelrooy before the Dutch survived a scare in their box when Emmanuel Eboue tumbled over, perhaps too theatrically, after being held by Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
Ndri Romaric warmed Edwin van der Sar's gloves from range, while Arouna Kone latched on to an incisive Yaya Toure pass only to drill into the side-netting.
The match sprung forcefully into life midway through the half when van Persie, having won a free kick 25 yards from goal, unleashed an Exocet of a set-piece into the top corner.
Marco van Basten's men quickly added a second. Arjen Robben sped in-field, exchanged passes with van Bommel before releasing the lurking van Nistelrooy, who finished emphatically past an exposed Jean-Jacques Tizie.
At that point Ivory Coast looked likely to suffer the same fate as Serbia earlier in the afternoon, but their morale was lifted when Didier Zokora thumped a 30-yard shot against the crossbar.
Robben blotted his copybook with a yellow card for diving after falling to the ground with a certain largesse following a token challenge from Arthur Boka.
Holland had not heeded the warning about Ivory Coast's prowess from distance as the Africans scored on 38 minutes, with Bakari Kone setting off on a diagonal run before lashing a shot beyond the despairing dive of van der Sar.
Ivory Coast should have levelled before half time after a lightning break from Didier Drogba, but he failed to capitalise on a two-on-one when hitting his pass to Arouna Kone straight at van Bronckhorst.
Johnny Heitinga failed to show for the second half and was replaced by Khalid Boulahrouz, while Rafael van der Vaart was soon called upon to replace the ineffectual Wesley Sneijder.
Van der Vaart's first act was to produce an intelligent run which created space for van Nistelrooy to sting Tizie's palms with a fiercely-struck drive.
Arsenal duo Kolo Toure and Eboue both tried to get in on the act - the former firing a free kick at van der Sar and the latter seeing his shot bravely blocked by Joris Mathijsen.
Some neat interplay between the Ivory Coast attackers resulted in Arouna Kone blazing over, but the contest started to take on something of a flat nature.
Robben injected a spark back into the game when forcing Tizie to parry his shot and, after teeing up van Nistelrooy, the Manchester United striker selfishly tried to work an opening rather than lay off to van der Vaart.
Ivory Coast offered an occasional threat, as Drogba's header across goal from a corner forced Holland into some desperate defending with van Persie blocking the ball on the line and Philip Cocu hooking clear to avert the danger.
Chelsea winger Robben had been criticised for his selfishness against Serbia by van Persie, but showed his awareness late on with a cute back-heel which created the chance for van der Vaart to shoot at Tizie.
In injury time, Ivory Coast piled forward in search of an equaliser, but one was not forthcoming to leave Holland and Argentina poised for a meeting to determine who tops Group C.
Superb strikes midway through the first half from Premiership duo Robin van Persie and Ruud van Nistelrooy enabled the Oranje to advance from Group C.
Bakari Kone replied with a screamer, but it was not enough to keep Ivory Coast in the tournament, although the finals debutants can at least return home with heads held high.
Holland stuck with the XI who started the win over Serbia & Montenegro and the settled nature of their team allowed the Oranje to dictate the early stages.
Mark van Bommel's teasing centre just eluded van Nistelrooy before the Dutch survived a scare in their box when Emmanuel Eboue tumbled over, perhaps too theatrically, after being held by Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
Ndri Romaric warmed Edwin van der Sar's gloves from range, while Arouna Kone latched on to an incisive Yaya Toure pass only to drill into the side-netting.
The match sprung forcefully into life midway through the half when van Persie, having won a free kick 25 yards from goal, unleashed an Exocet of a set-piece into the top corner.
Marco van Basten's men quickly added a second. Arjen Robben sped in-field, exchanged passes with van Bommel before releasing the lurking van Nistelrooy, who finished emphatically past an exposed Jean-Jacques Tizie.
At that point Ivory Coast looked likely to suffer the same fate as Serbia earlier in the afternoon, but their morale was lifted when Didier Zokora thumped a 30-yard shot against the crossbar.
Robben blotted his copybook with a yellow card for diving after falling to the ground with a certain largesse following a token challenge from Arthur Boka.
Holland had not heeded the warning about Ivory Coast's prowess from distance as the Africans scored on 38 minutes, with Bakari Kone setting off on a diagonal run before lashing a shot beyond the despairing dive of van der Sar.
Ivory Coast should have levelled before half time after a lightning break from Didier Drogba, but he failed to capitalise on a two-on-one when hitting his pass to Arouna Kone straight at van Bronckhorst.
Johnny Heitinga failed to show for the second half and was replaced by Khalid Boulahrouz, while Rafael van der Vaart was soon called upon to replace the ineffectual Wesley Sneijder.
Van der Vaart's first act was to produce an intelligent run which created space for van Nistelrooy to sting Tizie's palms with a fiercely-struck drive.
Arsenal duo Kolo Toure and Eboue both tried to get in on the act - the former firing a free kick at van der Sar and the latter seeing his shot bravely blocked by Joris Mathijsen.
Some neat interplay between the Ivory Coast attackers resulted in Arouna Kone blazing over, but the contest started to take on something of a flat nature.
Robben injected a spark back into the game when forcing Tizie to parry his shot and, after teeing up van Nistelrooy, the Manchester United striker selfishly tried to work an opening rather than lay off to van der Vaart.
Ivory Coast offered an occasional threat, as Drogba's header across goal from a corner forced Holland into some desperate defending with van Persie blocking the ball on the line and Philip Cocu hooking clear to avert the danger.
Chelsea winger Robben had been criticised for his selfishness against Serbia by van Persie, but showed his awareness late on with a cute back-heel which created the chance for van der Vaart to shoot at Tizie.
In injury time, Ivory Coast piled forward in search of an equaliser, but one was not forthcoming to leave Holland and Argentina poised for a meeting to determine who tops Group C.
